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The Xantala Association promotes the respectful nurturing of children’s growth from conception until entrance in primary school. We are a non-profit association formed by a group of families and educators.

One of our main goals is supporting and encouraging the spontaneous, self-directed growth of children as they pass through the developmental stages of early childhood. We also take into account each family’s personal needs and concerns, which these days are often amplified by a demanding work life incompatible with the genuine needs of parenting.

This type of association of families came about as one of the proposed alternatives to the current model of the “preschool”, a movement which began more than five years ago in Catalonia and other parts of Spain. It offers a different way of thinking about childcare, based on the child’s genuine needs rather than the economic needs of the parent to return to work. An economic need stimulated, obviously, by social policies which currently allow only 16 weeks of maternity leave.

The Xantala Association has its roots in the initiative of a group of families who wanted something different in terms of childcare for their children, and opened the school in September, 2006.

The families, educators and volunteers who have participated in the project have continually nurtured it with ideas, attention and care throughout its development. The Xantala Association is part of the community, and seeks to be a place to create community through relationships between and within families.